Is Fresno man guilty of ‘brutal, calculated’ murder? Attorney says the evidence is weak
Wearing a white rosary around his neck, accused killer Brandon Moreno sat stoically as he listened to prosecutor Elana Smith describe the numerous injuries he’s alleged to have inflicted on his murdered girlfriend.
Moreno is accused of beating to death 32-year-old Yanina Elizabeth Olivarez on Jan. 19, 2019, inside the apartment they shared in east-central Fresno.
Friends and family of Olivarez testified during the four-day trial that Moreno, 32, was an abusive, controlling, and jealous boyfriend.
Moreno has pleaded not guilty to murder and corporal injury to spouse or cohabitant. He was previously convicted of domestic violence in 2013 and of robbery in 2017
Smith told the jury during her closing statement Monday that when Olivarez was taken to the hospital the night she died, she had so many cuts, abrasions, and bruises that the nurse had to add an extra page to her report.
“This was not a one-punch attack,” Smith told the jury. “This was a brutal, calculated attack ... he was striking her from head to toe.”
Photos of Olivarez’s body shown during the trial detail the depth of the violence. Her body had bruises to her face, neck, chest, and legs.
Olivarez’s official cause of death was blunt force head trauma.
Smith said that there is no question that Moreno was responsible for Olivarez’s death, despite the lack of direct evidence.
During the trial, friends of Olivarez, a substitute teacher, said Moreno would demand she FaceTime him while at work so he would know where she was. He also wanted to see her time card to prove she was working.
Shortly before she died, she confided in a friend that she was afraid of Moreno and that if anything were to happen to her to take care of her son.
Olivarez’s brother described how she began wearing her hair differently after Moreno allegedly ripped out a patch of her hair when he dragged her around their apartment.
Smith said all indications point to Moreno as the killer.
“There is no other logical reason that it could have been anyone else,” she said.
Defense attorney Emily Takao didn’t put Moreno on the witness stand because she didn’t have to. She argued Monday that the District Attorney’s Office has not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Moreno killed his girlfriend.
Nearly 30 witnesses testified, but she said it was third-hand information.
“And what do we know about third-hand information, especially when it comes to relationships?” she asked the jury. “It’s unreliable. And the stories never match up.”
That was the case with the testimony from her friends and family.
One of the witnesses said Olivarez suffered from depression, but Takao said the jury doesn’t know if that was because of her boyfriend, or just that she was depressed.
When Moreno took Olivarez to the hospital the night of her death, police described him as cooperative and upset she was in the hospital.
“There are a lot of people who loved Yanina, and they want someone to be held accountable for her death,” Takao said. “But there is no direct evidence linking him (Moreno) to this crime.”
The jury began deliberating Monday afternoon. If convicted, Moreno could be sentenced to 63 years to life in prison.
This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
